58 comments:

Lyle, I know there are many folks like you. Food has become political; from liberals being vegans and now this horseshit w/ rainbow oreos and chicken sandwiches. As an Italian I am outraged and saddened.

Alex, True, but food is still the best in the world. Even in tough times food is not political and it is enjoyed equally by all. When you go to Italy you can see how they came to rule the world and how they pissed it all away. I'm simply talking food here Alex.

This came up in conversation last night. A gay, an intelligent man started right in with the hate hate hate which surprised me. I had always attributed deeper analysis to the guy, but not now. That was after everyone went on and on and on about the heat and how anybody who doesn't see it -- see what exactly? -- is a complete idiot.

But what is truly odd, and the reason why I comport less and less and less is this thing precisely, the moment that one single statement is uttered to the contrary, like, "hate? really?" then someone else flounces off because now a pleasant gathering has become too political and the only solution to that you see is for everyone to go yeah yeah yeah.

But what is truly odd, and the reason why I comport less and less and less is this thing precisely, the moment that one single statement is uttered to the contrary, like, "hate? really?" then someone else flounces off because now a pleasant gathering has become too political and the only solution to that you see is for everyone to go yeah yeah yeah.

Given it was their first big fight nationally, it's going to be interesting to see what happens next.

Lawsuits.

As Mark Shea writes, to these people, "tolerance is not enough. You. MUST. Approve."

As the quote says, these people don't do lawsuits.

They've got an SA-Ernst Rohm, beat-their-heads-in mentality that the opposition must be totally destroyed.

They're the most doctrinaire of Uncle Saul's nephews and are very into the whole "freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions." business.

I like the buttered bun and the pickle. The chicken part is salty and over-processed. I am agnostic when it comes to gay marriage. I support gay rights and equality and but I also respect our nation's traditions which include the traditional family unit as traditionally defined.Gay marriage? Whatever.Hollywood really wants it. I bristle at whatever Hollywood is pushing.I do not respect the increasingly fascist tendencies of our political class.

The end game for LGBT community is still far from certain. If the Supreme Court OK's gay marriage, there will still be a bunch of Kentucky Preachers who will refuse to marry them.

After the weddings do happen at a courthouse, a lot of people will view them as SHAM marriages, like they did about Tom Cruise and Katy Holmes.

The end game is for homosexuals to have their homosexuality accepted, by force if necessary, by the church. And if the church doesn't comply, then they seek to put the church out of business. Period. End of story.

I do care about observing my friends engaging in groupthink right there in front of me like a powwow. Don't like that. It's a very unsightly thing to behold, everyone standing around agreeing that some old man who expressed a traditional opinion personifies HATE. Every happy gathering becomes some kind of mini political caucus where lines of thought are stroked and combed. I must toss a screwdriver into that. But in the end I am enjoying the company of other people less and less. It's not that I don't respect different opinions, it's that I don't respect poorly developed opinions and spoon-fed opinions, it's seeing my friends' personalities subsumed to the most radical expressions. So I go to a party and the conversation is whatever the present day activists out there say is is and gone are any unique points of view or any unique expressions. Conversations with the DNC, conversations with the most political active, not conversations with my friends, they are all mouthpieces now.

Scott said... I'm gay and I don't support Chick-fil-A because their chicken sandwiches are unappealing.

I'm not a huge Chick-fil-A fan because Chipotle exists. But I am curious as to whose chicken sandwiches are allegedly better. On the occasions I've had them they've seemed quite juicier and less rubbery than those from other fast food chains.

I just realized how to deal with that. Comically turn the speaker into into the person they sound like but pick an egregious example. "Tell me Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I'm very curious about this, what did that owner of Chick Fil A say exactly?" Just acknowledge that you're speaking to someone else.

Scott said... I'm gay and I don't support Chick-fil-A because their chicken sandwiches are unappealing.

I'm not a huge Chick-fil-A fan because Chipotle exists. But I am curious as to whose chicken sandwiches are allegedly better. On the occasions I've had them they've seemed quite juicier and less rubbery than those from other fast food chains.

While Chipotle is awesome if you do it right, the CFA Chicken Salad Sandwich with the waffle fries and an ice tea is superb and nutritious meal.

"I do care about observing my friends engaging in groupthink right there in front of me like a powwow."

It's like I imagine Weimar Germany was like. Your friends and neighbors who you thought were such nice people start vocally agreeing with the batshit crazy rhetoric the government is putting out. It gets more pervasive, like snow settling on the landscape. Then, one day, they start rounding up the Jews...

Who will they round up this time? I think it'll be anyone who contributes to a GOP candidate or a conservative cause -- that kind of information is no longer private, so it's easy to draw up a list of class enemies.

And we will all be encouraged to work, but not to be too successful. Working for the greater good is good enough. Arbeit macht frei.

I could have gotten behind a boycott by individuals, but once government officials got in with threatening to muscle them with the power of law, I couldn't really in good faith support a boycott. It was no longer about gay marriage issue, which I think is something the law should recognize. It became a complex issue, with the prominent question being: Should cities be allowed to punish companies for political speech?

The answer to that is no. It's a shame too, because a purely non-politicized boycott could have been effective in making a point.

Since the DNC is brought to the party, happily acknowledge the DNC, pick its wildest member, its most vocal on whatever subject is broached, as an innocent and eager absorber of all they would have to say, with no indication at all that whatever it is they say you have already heard the arguments and already analyzed its rebuttal in fact find the subject worn. Compared to enduring broad topics like pop-up books or Egyptian hieroglyphics or sourdough bread, why deaf people contort their faces when they speak, you know normal things, I mean, come on.

The company does not seem to discriminate at all. Why is the opinion of the "owner" of the national entity somehow the "view" of all the franchisees and employees which make up the numerous "companies" nationwide? Does Harry Reids idiotic opinion translate to the "view" of the Senate? Or to the Democrats, in general?

If someone wants to shut down Chick-fil-a, he needs to open a fast food place with better, cheaper chicken sandwiches. Then Chick-fil-a would get even better. Then the other guy would. Then Chick-fil-a would. Then other guy. Then Chick-fil-a. And so on.

Had my first chick-fil-a sandwich yesterday; the spicy chicken sandwich and it was very tasty. I liked it and will have another some day.

It was a decent restaurant, for fast food, and had a quite high employee to customer ratio. The employees were super nice, too, hovering over us asking incessantly if they could help us with something. People that nice bother me -- I'm not used to it. Sort of like Mormons.

I agree with those talking about the rise of group think (or group not-think). It's become impossible to discuss issues with so-called liberals. I like Chip Ahoy's idea but experience says the liberals will just flounce off if they see they are being teased. Then the Tea Party becomes the party-wrecker. And why is this? I saw an interesting study which suggested that party affiliation is now determining the facts we believe such as whether the economy is getting better. I think affiliation is determining facts we know especially in the case of liberals. Liberalism really a huge exclusion mindset now and not a proudly maintained tolerance at all. See Rachel of Chik-Fil-A vs. The Liberal

The Chick Fil A nearest us is owned and run by a large Indian family, some of whom wear the red dots on their foreheads. Lovely family. Christians? Not bloody likely.

They ponied up their dough and bought a franchise and now their business is put at some risk by Dan Cathy, who doesn't seem to understand that when you have a business partnership with someone, even when they are just your franchisee, it's implicit that you won't say something publicly to fuck them over. Chick-Fil-A may be privately held, but its many investors (franchisees) have the right to expect the company's CEO to act in their best interests.

They didn't swear an oath of religious fealty to any one religion in order to be granted the privilege of buying a franchise. Were Cathy a decent man, he would have prefaced his remarks with a simple phrase: "Speaking only as a private citizen, and not in my capacity as CEO..."

The COMPANY doesn't have a view of gay marriage. You can look through their corporate mission statement or anything else to do with the company you will not find any policy or view about gays or same sex marriage.

The OWNER of the company has a personal view on that topic as is his right.

They ponied up their dough and bought a franchise and now their business is put at some riskand....

They didn't swear an oath of religious fealty to any one religion in order to be granted the privilege of buying a franchise.

Surely they read some information about the company and the corporate mission statement

"The company's official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

So if they did read it and bought anyway....tough shit. If they didn't read it and research the company that they were buying into...they are sure some piss poor business owners and I don't feel the least bit sorry for them.

In addition, I bet they had a huge surge of business at their store since the only people boycotting consists of a very small group of people compared to those who went to Chick fil A to show support.

@ Revenant--no, I'm a small business owner who, like the franchisee I cite, has a substantial investment at risk.

I also don't give a shit about gay marriage or Chick-Fil-A, but I do think business is business and personal is personal, and I notice nobody has bothered to take on the thrust of my argument, which is that when you are in business with someone, it's implicit (unless you have a good contract, in which it's explicit) that you won't fuck the other person over by saying something in public that could potentially damage sales. You don't know that the Huckabee clones are going to buy enough chicken sandwiches to make up for those who support gay marriage rights. Some folks in these comments are assuming that, to be sure, but it's too early to .

@ DBQ: the application process for franchisees doesn't have any religious disqualifiers (unless, of course, you consider the prohibition against opening on Sundays to be one). Maybe in practice they find some way to disqualify you if you're not sufficiently pious, but on paper, I, an agnostic, qualify to be a franchisee.

By the way, Revenant, you're an asshole. Put some thought into your next comment before you get to the Captcha.

Revenant--no, I'm a small business owner who, like the franchisee I cite, has a substantial investment at risk.

Your habit of making up unsupported accusations leads me to doubt that.

Franchisees have profited from this nonsensical "controversy". The religiously intolerant weren't eating there in the first place, and the rest of us are more likely to. Their sales have gone up and will continue to do so long after people have stopped pretending that gay marriage matters as an issue.

In this political and business climate no one knows when something they or someone else does or says will cause their business to crumble away underneath them. If you own a business you didn't create this hostile climate someone else did. Who do you think that might be? Odds are it was someone with high cheekbones, a socialist outlook and no qualifications.Chick-fil-A didn't build that.